The Wuhan Institute of Virology has recently filed a patent application for the drug remdesivir to treat coronavirus. The patent was filed jointly with the Military Medicine Institute of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Science. The Chinese believe that remdesivir and chloroquine (an anti-malarial drug) are effective at combating the virus. Chloroquine is an eight year old drug and China is free to manufacture it but remdesivir has been patented by

Actor James Dean died in 1955 at the age of 24 but that has not stopped him from appearing in the new action film “Finding Jack.” The film is set to feature Dean in a co-starring role, using computer images generated from old footage. While the producers and film makers appear to have legally acquired Dean’s personality rights, many feel the role does a disservice to Dean’s legacy. CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

Draft legislation addressing patent eligibility is expected sometime this fall. The hope is that the bill will clarify patent eligibility issues and tackle inventions classified as abstract ideas, laws of nature and natural phenomena. Proposed changes to section 101 are expected to broaden patentability for “any invention or discovery that provides specific and practical utility in any field of technology through human intervention.” STEPS PATENT APPLICANTS SHOULD TAKE NOW

Since 1936, Levi has been placing a small fabric tag with the name LEVI on the pockets of its denim products.  The company recently filed a trademark suit against Barbour, an English clothier that has been in business since 1894.  Levi claimed that the blue fabric tags placed in the pockets of Barbour clothing created a likelihood of confusion. On February 1st, a Judge dismissed the case calling Levi Strauss a "bully." CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

The United States has charged tech company Huawei with trade secret theft, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice. The DOJ alleges that the company took photos and measurements of a phone-testing robot and used that information to build a similar device. Huawei denied the theft, claiming it was the work of miscreants; however, recent emails offering bonuses to employees stealing information from competitors was recently uncovered. CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

USPTO Director Iancu recently proposed new patent eligibility guidelines at the quarterly meeting of the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC). Iancu noted that clarity is needed both by examiners and applicants asking, "how can a claim be novel enough to pass 102 and nonobvious enough to pass 103, yet lack an "inventive concept" and therefore fail 101? Or, how can a claim be concrete enough so that one of skill in the art can make it without undue experimentation, and pas

After two years of trying to secure the color yellow as a trademark, the TTAB has ruled that consumers do not necessarily associate a yellow box with Cheerios brand cereal. Click here for full article

There is a lack of certainty when it comes to intellectual property rights in outer space.  Space Law is generally uniform in its application while intellectual property law varies from country to country. What happens when a patent is infringed in outer space? Currently, nothing as patent laws apply only within the territory of the granting country. And because the standards of copyright infringement vary from country to country there is an additional uncertainty of what art

A photographer shooting wildlife in Indonesia recently left his camera unattended. He returned to find that a crested black macaque had taken a few interesting shots of himself. The photographer released the photos and one of them went viral. When the owner of the camera asked Wikipedia Commons to remove the image from its site, Wiki challenged his copyright ownership. According to U.S. law, copyright ownership is awarded to the individual who takes the photograph; but doe

If you have developed a mobile application you should consider protecting your intellectual property rights by filing trademark and patent applications where applicable.  You should also consider federal copyright registration as a means of protecting the code and layout of your application.  Click here for full article.

Some police departments are implementing a crime mapping program that uses criminal data to predict future areas of specific crimes. A report generated by this software coupled with an officer's observations may be sufficient to stop and search a suspected criminal. With the advent of real time advertising and now predictive policing, the movie the Minority Report no longer seems to be science fiction. The privacy and civil liberty concerns raised by this technology will m

A $1.6 Million dollar award for attorney fees was recently confirmed against a plaintiff held to have pursued a bad faith infringement action. Click here for full article

A recent ruling by the Federal Circuit held that claims must do more than simply accelerate human calculations in order to be eligible for patentability. Inventors would be wise to distinguish the role of the computer in their patent application. Click here for full article

A man claims to have uncovered the formula in an old box of documents that he purchased at a chemist's estate sale. He plans to offer the formula for sale on eBay. Click here for full article